The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 13th that it visited the LG Production Engineering Research Institute to tour the site building a "co-prosperity model artificial intelligence (AI) smart manufacturing" system and discussed ways to spread manufacturing AI through win-win cooperation between large and small companies.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) is pushing the "co-prosperity model AI smart factory construction support program." The core is that, through collaboration between the government and large companies, excellent manufacturing AI technology and infrastructure owned by large companies are shared with small and medium-sized companies. LG Electronics is providing AI solutions combined with EXAONE (LG AI Research) from LG AI Research, smart factory solutions, and automation equipment, controllers, and sensors.
With a total budget of 4 billion won last year, the program provided up to 500 million won per project and selected nine small and medium-sized companies to push forward with building AI-based smart factories. In addition to applying AI solutions to improve product design and production processes, expert technical consulting is also being carried out in parallel.
The LG Production Engineering Research Institute visited by Minister Han Seong-sook is an autonomous research organization under LG Electronics, established in 1987 in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. Based on 67 years of manufacturing experience and about 40 global production bases, it supplies smart factory solutions to various industrial sectors.
At this on-site roundtable, outstanding cases from last year's co-prosperity model AI smart factory support corporations, including Neopla Tech and Sangil Costem, were also presented. Participants also shared measures to boost AI adoption in the small manufacturing ecosystem, difficulties related to promoting co-prosperity model projects between large and small companies, and opinions on expanding public-private cooperation.
Minister Han said, "The importance of co-prosperity model projects that share excellent manufacturing AI technology and infrastructure owned by large companies with small and medium-sized companies is growing."
She added, "The government will expand the scale of support for building co-prosperity model AI smart factories this year so that many small and medium-sized companies can benefit," and "I am confident that an AI transition through technological cooperation between large and small companies will serve as a catalyst for innovation across the manufacturing ecosystem."